1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus having a general-purpose video signal processing circuit which is provided with an adjustment function or expanded function, such as signal processing, adapted for use in a solid-state image pickup device built in an endoscope and to an endoscopic function adjusting circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
As disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 63-283277, an endoscope apparatus having an image pickup device tends to become complex in the structure of the circuit therein because of the necessity of correcting a signal delay due to a cable running through the insert section thereof and correcting the waveform of a CCD drive pulse.
For this reason, in the conventional art, all signal processing circuits for driving an image pickup device and processing an output signal of the image pickup device are built in an endoscope side. The endoscope having the built-in image pickup device needs signal processing circuits including a CDS circuit, an AGC circuit, an A/D converter, an encoder, etc.
In the conventional art, each of the signal processing circuits built in the endoscope needs to be developed as a circuit dedicated to the endoscope. Since each circuit needs to be developed and prepared each time the need arises, the circuit lacks versatility. If many models of endoscopes are manufactured in a production system, of which a large-inventory and small-production quantity method is currently required, circuits need to be newly developed and prepared in accordance with the types of endoscopes, and development costs involved increase.